I’m trying to see whether I should go to UCR or Penn State UP. I live in California and I have a $2000 per year scholarship to Riverside. My major is International Relations and Linguistics as a double major. I’ve been reading about both of them, and they seem identical, ranking and academics-wise. Which would be better for me to go to?
As a CA resident, the total cost of attendance at UCR would be about $35K for you. Subtract the $2,000 and that goes to $33K.
Penn State’s tuition, fees, room, and board is estimated at around $43K a year for nonresident students. That’s NOT including estimated books, transportation, and miscellaneous expenses, which can easily add another $3-5K onto the cost of attendance. So basically you’d save $40K over four years by going to UCR. It’s not a huge difference, but it is a difference.
One important distinction: Penn State does not have a linguistics major. They do have communication arts and sciences, which seems related but very different. They also don’t have a straight international relations major, although they do have international politics, which seems similar enough.
UCR has a linguistics major. They don’t have international studies, but they do have an IR minor.
Sounds like UCR might be the better choice, then.
To add on to what @juillet wrote about UCR’s IR minor, UC Riverside also offers Asian Studies, Asian Literature and Culture, Chicano Studies, Global Studies, Latin American Studies, Political Science with an emphasis on international affairs, Public Policy with options to study how different cultures react to the same issue, and an urban studies minor.
Foreign language classes, required by a good majority of reputable IR programs also offer study abroad and courses on the culture of the various countries which speak the language.
I really appreciate the feedback! I didn’t realize that Penn State didn’t have a linguistics major and that makes all the difference! I really want to get on my way to a Linguistics PhD but I also want to work in the Foreign Service, so that’s why International Relations/Affairs or Political Science with an emphasis on International Affairs is important to me. I tend to group the two together, so that clears up a lot of confusion. Thank you!